Fox news reports that the EPA’s Al Armendariz, after coming under scrutiny for a comment that he made in 2010:
Armendariz made the original remarks at a local Texas government meeting in 2010. He relayed to the audience what he described as a “crude” analogy he once told his staff about his “philosophy of enforcement.”
“It was kind of like how the Romans used to, you know, conquer villages in the Mediterranean,” he said. “They’d go in to a little Turkish town somewhere, they’d find the first five guys they saw, and they’d crucify them.
“And then, you know, that town was really easy to manage for the next few years,” he said.
Yes indeed, those comments reflect on your work as a regional administrator. They go to the heart of a philosphy [sic] of enforcement that seeks to use intimidation and – not Roman – but Gestapo tactics in seeking to enforce the law. We don’t do that in America. We don’t treat American citizens in this manner. And the fact that you don’t get that scares the holy hell out of all of us who may get in the sights of a government agency for whatever reason some day.
Amendariz said at the time,”you make examples out of people who are, in this case, not complying with the law … and you hit them as hard as you can” — to act as a “deterrent” to others. Wrong. The law is the deterrent not the federal agency. Unless each case is considered on its own merits without prejudice regarding “deterrence” for others, you do a severe injustice to both the law and the concept of fairness.
Consider this: time after time I write about my strategy of resisting the IRS, falling upon the assurances that our Canadian government has made. Our beloved 30-year tax vet, Steve Mopsick, warns me that I will put a target on my back. Will the IRS not make an example of me? Isn’t that special? They will have to crucify me because I denied openly and publicly their authority over me.
It is one thing to exercise our freedom of speech and say almost anything we would like to say to the IRS in a public forum like, “The IRS is wearing a funny hat,” but it quite another to file, tender, or submit papers to the IRS which sound like there is a possibility that they are tax protest materials which are directly related to YOUR personal tax account or tax year under audit or investigation.
Those who would like to take on the IRS directly which Petros is apparent doing should be cautioned not to paint themselves as Tax Protestors or Tax Protest Leaders which simply put, are people in the view of the IRS, who are violating tax reporting requirements based on legal theories which the IRS believes have been discounted or rejected by the courts, or are counseling others to do so. Once the IRS computers put a taxpayer in the group FORMERLY KNOWN AS TAX PROTESTORS, they will direct their enforcement personnel directly at them and they will seek to make a public example of them including the possibility of a criminal investigation.
Ok, we all love 30-year IRS Vet. He kindly offers his advice and comments here, and they are invaluable. I want to thank him personally. But note I agree completely with Mr. Moran who says that targeting people for special treatment in order to cause fear in others is not justice. If Mopsick is correct, then the IRS suffers from systemic sickness of retribution, a desire to come down hard on those who most vocally resist their regime. Their evaluation of my tax return then would not be based upon the merits of my actual case, but on a desire to make an example out of me so that others will comply. This is the end of liberty.
I agree, it is a sign of the end of liberty. Good post.
Pour encourager les autres.
Was this an The Onion quote? “We don’t do that in America. We don’t treat American citizens in this manner.” It is exactly what the IRS VD jihad has been doing. They have had many opportunities to modify their approach it and respond to Nina Olson’s TAD, and they they persist with hyperbolic statements about the criminal prosecutions or penalties they are going to oppose. How else are you supposed to take that?
Gosh, when will Word Press come up with edit options for those that “leave a Reply”?
Let me clean up my hasty post…
Was this a “The Onion” quote? “We don’t do that in America. We don’t treat American citizens in this manner.”
It is exactly what the IRS VD jihad has been doing. They have had many opportunities to modify their approach it. They could have responded positively to Nina Olson’s TAD, and yet they persist with hyperbolic statements about the criminal prosecutions or penalties they are going to propose if you don’t come clean. They are still warning people not to do QDs, when that is exactly what they should want if compliance was the goal. How else are you supposed to take that?
Petros… please delete by previous. thnx